MA DESIGN FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA
MA DESIGN FOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA - Middlesex University in London
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Overview & facilities
The MA Design for Interactive Media offers a unique opportunity to develop practical skills together with special insights into the nature of interaction design. It has recently absorbed the activities of the related MA Electronic Arts, enabling us to offer an even wider range of experience. We learned a long time ago that Interactive Media are not just about the conventional screens of the PC and the TV. They are everywhere in our pockets, on our wrists, on the walls of an exhibition, embedded in other devices. The way we experience them has expanded too. Interaction design includes websites and services of all kinds, television, virtual environments, installations and kiosk systems, games, CD and DVD, advanced educational technologies, ubiquitous computing, multi-sensory input, intelligent appliances and mobile technologies, interactive artworks and digital performances. Our students learn how to design and build everything that falls within the scope of interactive media. In the seventeen years since we launched this world-leading creative masters programme, we have helped to drive the three phases through which Interactive Media has grown first, CD-ROMs; then the Web; and now media which are ubiquitous, pervasive, physical, multi-modal. Whether you want to know how to design a crystal-clear website that communicates with perfect effectiveness, develop a pervasive game played on mobile phones or simply have an unrivalled opportunity to think about where interactive media are going, we can provide what you need. Our students learn to think in new, exciting and useful ways about interactivity - and acquire the skills to put these thoughts into practice.
Research Expertise
The masters programme is attached to the internationally important Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, a recognised Research Centre of the university. This multidisciplinary centre has expertise in interactive media, film, video, digital arts and sonic arts. While studying with us you will work with staff of all these disciplines and will also be able to undertake projects with students on related MA programmes if you wish. The range within the Centre's work is extraordinary in many ways art and science, fine art and industrial, visionary and practical, strong on ideas but grounded in real knowledge of our chosen media. Funded and personal research projects enable staff to be aware of, in fact ahead of, the latest developments. This expertise is fed directly into the teaching programme. However this is not a one-way process student-led investigations have been turned into funded research projects and internationally important publications.
What will you be able to do when you graduate
You will have specialist skills in designing and making interactive media. You will understand the range of interactive media systems, products and industries. You will be confident about coping with the constant change that characterises this area of work. You will be very well equipped to develop your working career, or to progress into further academic study such as a research degree.
Content & modules
You take three compulsory modules. Within these you have a great deal of freedom. The first two modules are taken in parallel, while the third and last comprises the final project and dissertation. With the agreement of staff you can develop a programme customised to your needs. The overriding aim is for you to acquire a deep insight into the special characteristics of interactive digital media. Your programme of creative and investigative activity is agreed in consultation with staff. Staff encourage you to identify the connections between the project or projects and theoretical and written work. They also assist you in planning and determining the scale of the project or projects.
Creative Practice
The core software tools, media and technologies required for interactive media are introduced, refocusing your existing skills and practice in the context of new tools and styles of production. The teaching is designed to support your work on projects, rather than as an end in itself. You study interactive media in both breadth and depth; you are particularly encouraged to look at interactive media beyond conventional displays and interaction devices. You have an open choice between blue-skies and market-ready projects, but in all cases you are helped to identify the benefit of interactivity to the user and the relationships between form, content and interaction. With this in mind you are introduced to usability and other human-computer interface issues and a variety of evaluation technologies and approaches. Opportunities are created for collaborative projects with students from other programmes in Media Arts; this is an option you are encouraged to pursue. You may wish to develop your creative practice projects around employed work, whether contracted or salaried. In this case, staff assist you in determining the relationship between the requirements of work and those of the academic programme.
Research and Context
You complete a practical assignment with a clear research goal which you document in a report. By research we mean that the emphasis is on discovery, through working on a project, rather than simply on the making in itself. This shared module runs in parallel with the Creative Practice module. Teaching introduces a variety of approaches to research and professional skills. It allows you to integrate theoretical, historical and critical skills with practical work. It also helps you prepare for the final module, the Dissertation Project. As a shared module, it provides the opportunity for students from the three programmes MA Moving Image, MA Design for Interactive Media and MA Sonic Arts to explore interdisciplinary themes, and this kind of cross-over is encouraged. In consultation with staff you plan work to suit your established and emerging special interests. This personal work is supported by a common series of lectures and seminars examining research methodologies; case studies of successful research work; thematic and contextual issues etc. The module culminates in a detailed proposal document for the major project to be pursued in the final Dissertation Project.
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